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Lok Sabha Speaker forms cross-party groups to engage 60+ nations
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has formed Parliamentary Friendship Groups with over 60 nations. These groups will involve MPs from both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Senior leaders from ruling and opposition parties will head these country-specific groups. The initiative aims to deepen legislative cooperation and dialogue. This move continues India's diplomatic outreach strategy.
New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday announced the constitution of Parliamentary Friendship Groups with more than 60 countries, in a move aimed at strengthening India's structured inter-parliamentary engagement.
The groups will comprise Members of Parliament from both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha cutting across party lines, with senior floor leaders heading the respective country-specific groups. Under the initiative, designated MPs will engage regularly with parliamentarians of assigned nations to deepen legislative cooperation and dialogue.
The move is being seen as an effort to institutionalise sustained outreach with foreign lawmakers, discuss issues of mutual interest, and articulate India's position on key global developments.
As with the earlier multi-party delegations sent abroad following 'Operation Sindoor', the Friendship Groups reflect cross-party representation.
From the ruling BJP, senior leaders such as Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Baijayant Panda, Nishikant Dubey, Anurag Thakur, Bhartruhari Mahtab, D. Purandeswari, Hema Malini, Biplab Kumar Deb, Sudhanshu Trivedi, Jagdambika Pal and Aparajita Sarangi will lead various groups.
Among Opposition parties, Congress leaders P Chidambaram, Shashi Tharoor, KC Venugopal, Gaurav Gogoi and Manish Tewari will head assigned country groups. Other leaders roped in include Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav; TMC's Abhishek Banerjee, Derek O'Brien and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar; DMK's Kanimozhi; AAP's Sanjay Singh; BJD's Sasmit Patra; NCP (SP)'s Supriya Sule; AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi; and YSR Congress' Midhun Reddy, among others.
From NDA allies, JD(U)'s Sanjay Jha, AIADMK's M Thambidurai, Shiv Sena's Shrikant Shinde and NCP's Praful Patel will also head select groups.
According to a statement issued by the Speaker's office, Friendship Groups have already been formed with several major countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, France, Israel, Iran, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Japan.
The statement also recalled that following 'Operation Sindoor', Prime Minister Narendra Modi had initiated multi-party delegations to various countries to convey India's perspective. The formation of Friendship Groups is described as a continuation of that diplomatic outreach strategy.
Efforts are underway to constitute similar groups with additional countries in the coming months.
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Source: EconomicTimes
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